Connecting Eucharist

Practically the whole church is out of town right now. They all went to Creation, which is something of a Christian Woodstock, for lack of a better description. But the few of us who stayed local gathered for worship today and since it’s the first Sunday of the month we received communion. My pastor asked me to say a few words before serving communion to the church as he always does. I always fear that I’ll just be repeating myself over and over. It’s not like these folks haven’t heard what I have to say on the subject a dozen times before. Why do I keep getting asked to say something? That’s what runs through my head anyway.

Yet I’m always amazed at how easily I’m able to connect my musings on the Eucharist with whatever message has just been preached. The brother who preached today spoke about fasting, and intimacy with God, and God’s presence. Talk about a no-brainer! When we fast we do so in anticipation of the great wedding feast to come at eschaton when we’ll be forever in God’s presence. Partaking in Christ’s body and blood is a window into this greater reality. We get to commune with God in a very real and tangible way. It’s one of, if not the, most intimate acts of worship that the church engages in.

But even though today’s comments about fasting, intimacy, and presence seemed tailor made for talking about communion, so have the previous messages about grace, and sacrifice, and obedience, and everything else I’ve heard preached before I had to say anything about it. It’s easy to connect the Eucharist to a biblical sermon because the Eucharist is so central. So I’ve said all this to say that if ever I am repeating myself, it’s always in a different way, and that’s okay, because some things bear repeating.